Khammam: The state government has decided to try and enhance the student strength in schools having less than 20 students – rather than shut them down – under the auspices of the Badi Bata programme that has been commenced in the district.
A government survey found that parents were not sending their children to school for two main reasons: English was not being taught in these schools and teachers were frequently absent, leading to irregularity in the student’s routine.
The government has therefore decided to introduce English medium teaching from this year in schools with low student strength. Teachers’ unions, meanwhile, pointed out that there were no nursery classes in the government primary schools. Parents, who were accustomed to sending their children to private schools from nursery upwards, would continue to do so once they came to Class I.
A five-member committee, comprising a teacher from the school, an Integrated Child Development Scheme supervisor, sub-inspector of the police station, mandal education officer and local sarpanch, will also counsel parents on why it was important to have their children attend school, with teachers of these schools having been asked to make sure that all the parents attended the meeting.
There are 18 schools with no students, 83 that have less than 10 students and 262 schools with student strength ranging from 11 to 20.
